This invention relates to a configuration mechanism for configuring a software component in a computer system.
When a new software product is obtained for a computer system, several processes must be carried out before that product is available for use. The most obvious is physical installation; products often arrive on magnetic tape or diskettes which must be copied onto local filestore before the new product is available for use. It is just as important to configure the product, ie to give the product a description of the environment it will operate in.
This description can range from the straightforward to the complex. For example, many products will ignore a mouse until they are told it is there, and can produce odd results by trying to display a colour screen on a monitor they assume is monochrome. For products that operate on a network and need to communicate with other products, extensive, accurate and consistent information about the operating environment is essential before they can be used for their intended tasks.
Configuring a product is the process of providing all this information. This process is handled differently by different products. Indeed, it often seems that no two products approach this common requirement in the same way. This variety comes about because the developers of each product create procedures and facilities without reference to one another. The user is forced to learn new and often idiosyncratic procedures for every product they configure. Important issues such as the validity and consistency of the data created by these procedures may be ignored.
The object of the present invention is to provide a configuration mechanism which overcomes or reduces these problems, so as to provide a more user-friendly method of producing a working version of a product.